Speaking during a Friday, May 10, interview on Fox News Channel, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley argued that the judge in former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial crossed “the line” with a suggestion to DA Bragg’s prosecution team that a certain witness be brought forward to testify.
Turley is, in addition to being a law professor, someone who routinely comments on these sorts of cases, often from the conservative position. Trump has taken to quoting him on Truth Social, often in the context of pushing back on Judge Merchan’s rulings and the case generally without violating the gag order.
Recently, he did so, posting, “Jonathan Turley: ‘Can’t imagine any competent lawyer would not be embarrassed by what has happened in this Courtroom…This day is truly going to go down as a day of infamy for the New York Legal System. Watching this unfold in that Courtroom as a lawyer is really deeply disturbing…They keep on referring to these documents. The documents don’t move the ball. The documents show an NDA and a payment that’s not in dispute. They are not unlawful. They are not unlawful as a Federal Campaign Contribution.'”
In any case, at the point in the case at which Turley was speaking about the unusual and potentially line-crossing nature of Judge Merchan’s conduct, New York Judge Juan Merchan suggested to DA Bragg’s team that Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg testify. That came after the prosecutors from his office attempted to introduce Weisselberg’s severance package into evidence.
Turley, speaking about the suggestion to Fox News Channel host Martha MacCallum, said that it was “very unusual.” Then, explaining why it was “crossing the line” for Judge Merchan to have made the suggestion, Turley used an example from his time as an attorney.
He said, noting that the “joint effort” was the issue, “It reminds me of a judge when I started out as a lawyer who was notorious because he would say, ‘Is the defense ready to present its case,’ and turn to the prosecutors and say ‘Are we ready to present our case?’ This is a little bit crossing the line. You’re not supposed to be making this a mutual effort.”
Watch him here:
Turley has also bashed Judge Merchan’s handling of Michael Cohen. He said, “Cohen is out there, you know, attacking the president, campaigning against the president. People are attacking Cohen. Were you protecting against? He’s in the middle of a firestorm of his own creation and so the gag order makes no sense at all, it’s achieving nothing except silencing the leading candidate for the presidency and to have the sudden epiphany that just maybe, Cohen should be instructed not to make these statements is a bit late.”
That came after, as the Daily Caller reported, “Judge Juan Merchan instructed prosecutors Friday to tell Michael Cohen, who is set to be the star witness in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case, that he should stop talking about former President Donald Trump and the case.”
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